Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 290

A CCIDENTALLY 1954

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name JOHN ALUN STRAKER JAMES (Nav Off)

Lef SES 1950

Roll Number 4150 Died 06:01:1954

Set / House E

Arrive SES 1946

Where TOM’S HILL, ALDBURY Serving with R.A.F.

Age 22

Buried Unknown Remembered Not on any St. Edward’s School Memorial* - NEEDS CORRECTING.

Born Pontypridd 1932. A Barclays Scholar, 2nd Cricket XI, Hockey XI, School Play, Corporal CCF, Modern VIth Form. Joined the RAF in 1950 on leaving St. Edward’s. On 6th January 1954 he was one of the crew aboard a Vickers Valetta Training Aircraft of No. 2 Navigation School R.A.F. which crashed just after take off, in bad weather including snow, from R.A.F. Bovington. The flight was to be used to transport a rugby team for a match at R.A.F. Halton. The aircraft had already completed a journey from R.A.F. Thorney Island to Bovington with 16 passengers without incident. For the return trip there was an extra passenger, although the aircraft only had 16 passenger seats. The pilot had not played in the match but the other members of the crew (including James) had. The Valetta was seen to climb at about 400 feet then during a turn to the left it hit a tree five miles north of the airfield and crashed near Tom’s Hill, Aldbury. The engines were torn off on impact and the rest of the fuselage continued on for 100 yards. Two passengers were rescued alive but one died later in hospital, everyone else perished, including James. The official verdict was one of accidental death, with the one survivor remembering nothing of the crash